1. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:

2. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Members of the General Assembly
Notes: The General Assembly is bicameral (has 2 chambers/houses). One is the House of Representatives, and one is the Senate. There are 180 members of the House of Representatives and 56 members of the Senate. Members of the legislature are elected by popular vote to 2 yr. terms of office.

3. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Members of the General Assembly
Notes: There is no limit on the number of terms a representative or senator can serve. Each of these members is elected by voters in a house or senate district. Districts roughly equal in size.

4. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Presiding Officers
Notes: The Lieutenant Governor presides over (leads) the Senate. Members of the House of Representatives elect a Speaker as their presiding officer. The Speaker, like the Lieutenant Governor, appoints committees and their chairpersons and assigns bills (proposed laws) to those committees. The LT Gov. does not have a vote in the Senate, but the Speaker of the House votes when it is necessary to break a tie.
LT. Gov. Casey Cagle
Speaker David Ralston

5. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Notes:
56 senators
President Pro Temp
- David Shafer

6. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Qualifications for the Senate
Notes: At the time of their election, members of the senate are required by Georgia’s constitution to be at least 25 yrs. of age, citizens of the United States, and citizens of GA for at least 2 yrs. In addition, they must have been legal residents of the district from which they were elected for at least 1 yr.

7. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Qualifications for the House of Representatives
Notes: Members of the House of Representatives must be at least 21 yrs. of age, citizens of the United States, citizens of Georgia for at least 2 yrs., and legal residents of the district from which they were elected for at least one year.

8. Georgia’s Legislative Branch: Lynne Riley
R- Johns Creek
District 50
Committees:
MARTOC – member
Natural Resources & Environment – member
Retirement – Member
Ways & Means - Member

9. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Presiding Officers
Notes: A presiding officer also has the power to determine the order of business, control debate, rule out proposed amendments to bills, enforce rules of procedure for the General Assembly, control meeting times and recesses of the General Assembly, and order a roll call vote on any issue.

10. Georgia’s Legislative Branch: Committees
“The committee system is the heart of the legislative process. The committee does what the Senate and the House of Representatives could not do as well by functioning as a whole. The committee can and should do the fact-finding groundwork.”

11. Agriculture & Consumer Affairs
Appropriations
Banks & Banking
Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight
Code Revision
Defense & Veterans Affairs
Economic Development & Tourism
Education
Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications
Ethics
Game, Fish, & Parks
Governmental Affairs
Health & Human Services
Higher Education
Human Relations & Aging
Industry and Labor
Information and Audits
Insurance
Interstate Cooperation
Intragovernmental Coordination
Judiciary
Judiciary Non-Civil
Juvenile Justice
Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment
MARTOC
Motor Vehicles
Natural Resources & Environment
Public Safety and Homeland Security
Regulated Industries
Retirement
Rules
Science and Technology
Small Business Development
Special Rules
State Planning & Community Affairs
State Properties
Transportation
Ways & Means

12. GA Legislature Committees
Standing – established by the Senate and the House of Reps, for the management of their business
Study- appointed or selected to perform a specific task or study a specific topic
Conference – formed to reconcile differences of a bill – members of both House and Senate – meet to come up with a same version of a bill
Joint – composed of both House and Senate members

13. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Committee System
Notes: Some committees are permanent, lasting from one session to the next. These are called standing committees. Some of the standing committees include: Ways and Means Committee, which handles bills involving taxes; The Appropriations Committee, which works on the budget; and the Judiciary Committee, which deals with bills concerning the state’s laws and court system.

14. Georgia’s Legislative Branch:
Main Idea: Committee System
Notes: A joint committee, another special committee, is made up of members from both houses and works on an assigned topic or issue. A member of the General Assembly may serve on several committees. Committee chair persons decide when their committees will meet. They choose the order in which assigned bills will be discussed and when bills will be voted on.
House of Reps.
Senate